Inferno
by The BirdFox Hybrid Productions
Summary: Sweet Mother of Hyne, did that man look sexy in red spandex. AkuRoku.Superheros.
1. Chapter 1

**Inferno**

* * *

1.

'_In other news, The Inferno was spotted on the outskirts of Midgar late last night in the clutches of Tempest's wind. After a perilous battle, neither man could be found. Could The Inferno's flame have been extinguished for the last time? Find out more tonight_.'

Roxas scowled at the news report, watching the shaky video of a figure dropping to its knees inside of a vicious cyclone before the news reel cut out to lead into the next feature story. He flicked the power button on the remote before tossing it on the couch, grabbing his knapsack from the loveseat and heading for the door. His skateboard was leaning against the wall beneath the key rack-- courtesy of Sora's innate tendency to tidy everything but his own room.

Snatching it up, Roxas made sure to lock the front door as soon as he closed it behind himself, jogging down the steps to catch sight of Axel waiting in the driveway, his arm resting lazily on the handlebars of his motorcycle, the other absently scratching at a fresh band-aide on his chin.

Roxas rolled his eyes as he moved to stuff his skateboard as awkwardly as he could into his bookbag, slinging it back over his shoulder when he was satisfied with the wheeled contraption sticking halfway out the top.

"Was your dad drinking again last night?" He asked, watching Axel's previously distracted face light up at the sight of the blond junior. At first, it seemed like he was going to ignore Roxas' question, opting to reach to the back of the motorcycle and grab the spare helmet that was inside of his satchel. He tossed it to Roxas, answering lightly. "Yeah, somethin' like that. You know dad."

Roxas grunted and stuffed the helmet over his head, mildly disgruntled at the feeling of his gelled hair poking into his forehead and cheeks. He lifted the visor as Axel clambered onto the front of the bike. "Your dad's a dick." His muffled voice grumbled, hopping on behind Axel and twisting his fingers into the back of his friend's shirt

Axel barked out a halfhearted laugh and turned on the ignition, the motorcycle's loud engine drowning out the any other response. They turned in the driveway before rolling down into the road, where Axel floored it and Roxas had to desperately grab onto the redhead's midsection to keep from flying off the back end. Roxas angrily headbutted Axel's back in warning, causing his friend's body to shake in laughter as he eased up on the gas.

The second that Axel had seemed to miraculously been able to afford a motorcycle during the previous year, it had become a ritual for the older boy to drive the both of them to school. With Axel's conflicting work schedule, however, Roxas spent most afternoons skateboarding home and hoping he might be lucky enough to roll into a scrimmage between The Inferno and one of the odd Nobodies.

As per usual, the ride was made in silence -- mostly because Roxas hated yelling over the engine and trying to hear Axel through the strong padding of his helmet. When they reached the school parking lot, Roxas hopped off, wrenching the helmet from his head and instantly trying to adjust his hair as well as he could with one hand.

Axel released an overly exhasperated sigh at his companion's antics, "I've got work today, so I can't give you a ride home, don't forget." Roxas scowled, helmet clacking as he handed it back to Axel. "I remember. I brought my skateboard for a reason."

His answer was a noncommittal shrug, Axel fingering with the chipping paint of his spare helmet before he hooked it on the handlebars. "Just making sure..." He grumbled, face contorted into a pained look. Rolling his eyes, Roxas shot his hand out to punch Axel in the shoulder, earning an exaggerated wince and hiss.

"Don't be such a baby. I'm heading for class. Don't wait up." Having said that, he cheerily bumped fists with a humored Axel, hopping over the parking median and jogging towards the open campus.

Considering Axel's tendency for toeing the speed limit, they'd barely arrived before the first bell. Students were already scattering about to get to their class on time, some of them shoving past Roxas in their rush. Hayner was waiting impatiently outside of the gym when Roxas arrived, already dressed out and scowling profusely, tonguing what looked like a split lip. Roxas paused in front of the younger blond, giving him a prolonged and blatant stare that had Hayner's chestnut eyes narrowing. Not another beat of silence passed before Hayner's wiry arms shot out and shoved angrily at Roxas' chest, causing the blond to stumble back with a chuckle. "Shut up, **ass**."

Roxas couldn't help the wry grin that pulled onto his face as they stepped into the gym's hallway, meandering for the locker rooms. "So, did you get that one in Struggle, or in _struggling_?" He quipped, instantly receiving a palm to the upside of his head and laughing loudly. Hayner violently pushed Roxas against the wall, storming into the gym with a single finger as his departing wave.

Roxas bit back his smile, heading for the locker rooms to change into his gym clothes. He never bothered to question Hayner's association with their school's Struggle captain, Seifer Almasy, because he feared the consequences that would be answered through his best friend's fist. (and possibly another shampoo-cum-surprise hair dye incident)

Stuffing his backpack into his locker, Roxas was secretly relieved that nobody was in the locker room to watch him jump up and down until he could actually reach the top of the lockers to put his skateboard on them, out of reach and out of sight from anyone who might be less than moral.

Slipping out of the locker room, he cheerily greeted Tidus as the Blitzball star struggled with a seemingly finicky drink machine that popped out a water bottle instead of the blond's desired soda.

Slipping into the gym, he nodded at their coach, Auron, and jogged over to the volleyball net that had been set up for anyone willing to play. Hayner was at the front, adjacent to Seifer as they continued to batter the poor ball, trying to one-up the other.

Roxas wasn't sure if he pitied the other players or the volleyball itself more, as Seifer dived in front of Olette to smack the ball up and over the net. Olette had shrieked in surprise, her open palm whapping him in the shoulder. Seifer ignored her, instead running up to punch the volleyball back again the second it had sailed over the net.

Roxas contemplated joining the older blond boy's side, just to tick Hayner off, but decided against it when Hayner ran smack into an oblivious Rikku in a mad scramble to return the ball.

Roxas shuffled towards the far end of the gym, waving at Demyx, who was in his own world, headphones over his ears and hair hanging in his face. As per usual, the cheery senior had set to dancing around a small crowd of students to entertain them. Roxas turned just in time to see Hayner running at him, gaze directed on the white ball sailing through the air. Eyes widening in shock, he barely had time to sidestep Hayner, grimacing when his leg caught against his friend's ankle.

Hayner toppled forward, skidding across the gym with a shout of surprise, chin cracking against the polished wood and a wince coming fiercely to his face that signified an injured tongue in the mix. Seifer's laughter echoed inside of the gym, causing a mortified fluster to overcome the short blond. Roxas apologized profusely, reaching out to help his friend up as Hayner experimentally flapped his wounded tongue around, grinning cheekily at his friend through his obvious pain. His chin was a blaring shade of red that had Seifer ducking under the net and making his way over while Hayner wriggled Roxas' arm off and jogged after the askew volleyball.

Roxas shrugged indifferently, continuing his path towards the corner of the gym that Zexion sat in, book in hand. The dark-haired boy gave him a curt nod in greeting, and Roxas plopped down on the gym floor beside him, muttering to his companion about how ridiculous it was for the bleachers to be pulled back during the school day. Zexion gave him a noncommittal shrug, flipping the page in his book

Roxas leaned against the wall, opting to watch his friends. Seifer had Hayner's chin in his hands, examining the injury as the younger blond tried to shove his sometimes-friend off of him. Seifer seemed satisfied after a moment of inspecting, and clapped Hayner on the arm, snatching the volleyball before anyone could react and jogging back to his side of the net.

Roxas' thoughts wandered to that morning's news cast, worry gnawing at the back of his mind when he thought of how helpless that barely visible outline of The Inferno seemed to look inside of the relentless cyclone. He pulled his knees up to his chest. Their entire region seemed to be littered with what was, literally, superhumans.

The first few had shown up when Roxas was in seventh grade. He and Axel used to run all the way to Roxas' house every day to watch the news in awe at the destructive power of what they now knew as Freeshooter and Tempest.

They were far from innocent- considering how almost twenty people had gone missing, sometimes with new villains showing up in their place. Kids that Roxas had known while growing up, Ienzo Stark and Myde O'Donahue, had never returned after their disappearances. During their ninth grade year, Roxas had flown into hysterics when Axel had disappeared off the face of the earth for eight days.

They'd called the police, contacted the newspaper, and Roxas had gone as far as to make ridiculous flyers with a picture of Axel playing with his cat, asking to call the given number if he was sighted. On the ninth day, Axel had called Roxas from his house, explaining that he'd merely gotten lost in the woods when he went to help some kid find his dog. After running over to the older boy's house, Roxas had berated him and slapped him until Axel had locked himself in the bathroom in fear of the blond's rage.

After Roxas' worry had subsided, however, he'd burst into tears of relief and blubbered on for a half hour that he'd been worried for Axel's welfare, and that the 'Nobodies' had gotten ahold of him like they to his neighbor, Sai. Of course, Axel had explained that he hadn't meant to disappear for so long, but he had lost track of time, and that all the trees really did look the same in YenSid's forest.

Somewhere in the middle of that same year, another suppossed villain had appeared. However, it was quickly established -- once he visibly punched the Diviner in the face on national television -- that The Inferno was more of a hero than a villain.

Not long after, Tsunami and Synthesis had appeared in a few fights to lend The Inferno a helping hand -- though on occasion, Tsunami would turn around in the midst of a fight and throw a volley of water in The Inferno's face before running off with whomever they happened to be dueling with at the time.

Of course, Roxas had experienced his fair share of encounters with both The Inferno and a handful of the self-proclaimed Nobodies. This included a very heated run-in a mere week ago, when Freeshooter had taken aim into a crowd of people and threatened to kill them if The Inferno didn't come willingly. Roxas, being the foolish teenager that he was, had taken an apple out of the lunchbag in his hand and thrown it at the one-eyed man, clocking him in the side of the head and earning a gun pointed at his face.

However, before he could fire, The Inferno had tackled Roxas into the road and pushed him out of harm's way. For that split second, he'd felt every contour of the man's lean body beneath the form-fitting clothing, and had wished pathetically that the hero didn't wear a helmet to hide his face.

Roxas' cheeks burst into a furious blush at the mere memory of The Inferno's heartbeat fluttering against Roxas' collarbone before the blond had been told to stay out of the way, though the man's voice was distorted and muffled through the helmet.

Roxas buried his face into his knees, berating himself for acting like a childish girl.

Before the complications of The Inferno's appearance, Roxas had been content with practically lusting after Axel for a good two years. He'd never felt so torn in his entire life than he did in the most recent months, unsure of which attraction proved to be stronger.

"Heads up!" Roxas peeked up to watch a Volleyball sail overhead, involuntarily squawking and jerking out of the way as it smacked into Zexion's shoulder.

Hayner jogged up, grabbing the ball and apologizing to Zexion, who seemed to have barely taken note of the volleyball's attack. Roxas grinned wryly, though he couldn't help but impatiently wait for the end of the day to come. He honestly had no desire to stay in school when The Inferno could be somewhere dying, and with nobody to help him.

The bell came soon enough, and Roxas shuffled through his day with anticipation. He went so far as to ask his Television Communications teacher if they could watch the news while they worked on editing their videos. Axel had given him an odd look before returning to his music video about The Inferno, and Roxas and scrunched his nose at his friend's obvious infatuation with the superhero.

He was convinced, no matter how much Axel denied it, that the redhead had a blatant crush on the fire-casting hero. It made jealousy coil in his gut, though Roxas wasn't sure who he was jealous of when the thought came to him, which was more of a dilemma than Axel's ridiculous adoration of the young crime fighter.

By the time his last class had rolled around, Roxas had his skateboard underfoot and was sliding it back and forth beneath the desk, somewhat grateful that his history teacher, Mr. Valentine, hardly bothered to show enough emotion to be annoyed by the scraping sound that the action generated.

Hayner, on the other hand, voiced his irritation in the form of sliding down in his seat behind Roxas and kicking the skateboard out from underneath of his friend's foot, causing it to shoot forward and smack into the back of Yuna's heels. The brunette girl shrieked in surprise, whirling around and giving Roxas a whithering glare. Roxas shrugged apologetically, toeing the skateboard back to its previous position and watching the clock impatiently. He'd already put away his classwork, prepared to depart the second that the day was over.

Hayner seemed to have a similar impatience -- though his was an everyday occurence -- and when the final bell actually let out its shrill ring, both boys were fighting to get to the door first, before Hayner shoved Roxas against the trash can by the door, casuing the taller blond to fall uncerimoniously to the ground with the bin on top of him, scattering papers everywhere.

Hayner cackled loudly, taking a second to pick up the trash can before he shoved his way past students to get outside. Roxas picked himself up, huffing in embarrassment and apologizing to Mr. Valentine while gathering up the scattered papers and returning them to the trash bin. He dropped his skateboard on the ground upon leaving the classroom, intent on catching to Hayner before his friend reached the street.

Hayner was waiting outside the school gates when Roxas finally arrived. Grinning, the struggle fighter held a fist out to Roxas, and the taller blond bumped their knuckles together before Roxas spoke up. "I wanna get home in time for the four o'clock news. Somethin' happened last night to the Inferno and I wanted to see if they had any updates. Wanna come over?" Hayner seemed to contemplate this for a moment, rolling the idea around in his head. "I dunno, man. Seifer said he was gonna help me with that history project Mr. Val gave us last week, he's supposed to come over at five, and my room's a mess." Roxas quirked a brow, earning an embarrassed punch to the shoulder from Hayner as the darker blond dropped his skateboard to the ground and stepped onto it.

"Shut up. The guy's a neat freak with everything. I'm surprised he doesn't have a coronary every time he sees a mirror because that scar messes up the symmetry of his face or something." Roxas trailed after Hayner, their boards rolling lazily down the sidewalk and towards the Marketplace. Roxas wiggled his legs enough for the board to swerve a little so he could better keep up with Hayner.

"Maybe he thinks it makes him more distinguished?" Roxas offered, and Hayner shot him an odd look, snorting loudly. "If that's what you call it."

They cut through the Marketplace, swerving around the odd pedestrian and conversing cheerily until they reached Roxas' house. Hayner gave his friend a curt goodbye before skating off down the street and towards his own home. It would probably require all afternoon to make his room even remotely up to Seifer's obsessive compulsive standards. Dropping his skateboard in the grass just under the front window, Roxas stuffed a hand into his back pocket to retrieve his key, the other going to knock rapidly on the door.

Instantly, he could hear frantic barking from the other side as his dog tried to stop the intruder from coming inside. Unlocking the door, Roxas swung it open and flew his arms apart with a manic grin.

"Max!" He yelled with false cheer, causing the fair-haired golden retriever to run in a small circle and give a quick series of jumps in place. He knelt down, hands going to scratch lovingly at the dog's ear, grimacing when Max's tongue eagerly lapped at his cheek and mouth.

"Max, _that's rude!_" He groaned, shoving the dog's head away from his face in vain. Max returned with even more effort, and Roxas patted his head and stood, shutting the door behind himself and making his way for the living room. He tossed his bookbag onto the loveseat, making a snatch for the remote control and turning the news on. A scowl pursed his lips when the weekly weather report came on through the speakers. He tossed the remote control back onto the couch and headed for the kitchen, intent on preparing himself something edible before his brothers and father came home from work.

Max whined, following him to the kitchen and standing in the doorway to watch Roxas putter around. The blond grumbled in annoyance, tossing a stale slice of bread to the retriever- despite how much his father discouraged the action- and returned to his task of preparing a formidable sandwich.

_'In other news, The Inferno has yet to be spotted after his encounter last night with Tempest.' _Roxas dropped his knife mid-mayo spread, jogging out of the kitchen and shoving Max out of the way. He clutched to the back of the couch in anticipation as the video from that morning was played again while the news reporter continued to speak.

_'Sources tell us that Tempest had been caught in the middle of trying to kidnap a young girl when The Inferno appeared, stopping the man from taking another victim. The fight lasted about thirty minutes before Tempest was able to create a cyclone in mid-air, surrounding the Inferno and extinguishing the hero's flame. However, when the cyclone was finally stopped, neither men were to be seen.' _

Roxas watched as The Inferno fell to one knee beneath the winds, objects flying about and blocking him from view momentarily. Suddenly, the camera fizzed for a few seconds as a particularly strong gust hit it, and when it came back into focus, both the cyclone and The Inferno were gone, leaving only a few scattered objects in their wake. Roxas nibbled on his lower lip, brows furrowing in anxiety.

_'Following the destruction, nearby SOLDIERS came in to ascertain crowd control. General Sephiroth had little to say on the matter.'_

Roxas knew Sephiroth from word of mouth -- mostly because his oldest brother was training to become a SOLDIER, and had experienced more than his fair share of run-ins with the famous general. He wasn't too terribly fond of the man, but Cloud had always had an odd infatuation with the seemingly invincible General.

Sephiroth's face remained impassive as a microphone was shoved into his face.

_'We may not have apprehended the vigilante or his destructive accomplice as of yet, but SOLDIER is determined to have both men, along with the rest of their law-breaking group, in custody within the next few months.'_ Roxas snorted, remembering clearly how it had only been a few weeks prior that the General had claimed that The Inferno was employing the Nobodies to be villains so that he could be some kind of superhero.

Roxas had seen enough fights to understand that The Inferno was_ wanted/_by the Nobodies. Why- he wasn't sure, but he knew full well that it was going to be a cold day in Hell before the fire-caster would voluntarily follow in their footsteps.

He scowled, turning from the television to finish making his snack, listening as General Sephiroth continued to ramble on about the injustice of superhuman monsters being allowed to freely roam the earth. Putting everything away once he was finished, Roxas grabbed a bag of chips out of the pantry, kicking the fridge with his heel to close it and meandering into the living room with his sandwich.

There was a video playing of Synthesis pulling Freeshooter away from The Inferno with a cluster of vines, followed by another short video of the plant-controlling man doing almost the exact opposite as the news reporter continued to ramble on about The Inferno's 'unreliable allies'. Roxas snorted, putting his plate and chips down and scowling with realization that he'd forgotten a soda, turning around on his heel and returning to the kitchen.

The front door opened, slamming shut not long after as the sound of Cloud muttering into the phone reached the blond's ears. The television went silent before Roxs could make it back out of the kitchen, muted by the older Strife. Roxas placed the can beside his sandwhich, walking around to sit on the couch and wait for Cloud to leave the room.

"So you don't know where you are or how you got there... but you're dressed as Santa and children are crying... right." Cloud murmured, gesturing at Roxas to keep the television's volume down before he wandered off into his own room, shutting the door with the heel of his boot. Roxas waited for a few seconds before he grabbed the remote and turned the sound back on, making sure to lower it slightly as he began flipping through stations, kicking his shoes off and nudging them under the coffee table.

Not long after his sandwich had been digested and he'd munched his way through a good portion of barbecue chips, the front door opened to reveal a disgruntled looking Sora, who held Roxas' skateboard in hand, setting it against the wall beside the door. "You're gonna get that stolen one day, y'know." The brunet lectured as soon as he realized that Roxas was watching him. Rolling his eyes, Roxas sunk down into the couch.

"I don't think anyone is going to want to steal a skateboard, Sora." He scooted over to make room for the older boy, watching Sora flop tiredly into the cushions and lean his head back. "Don't ever be a waiter, Rox. Even _I _don't have enough happiness for them."

Roxas laughed softly, taking a glance at the small clock above the television and opting to call Axel. He handed the remote to Sora, standing up and digging around in his pockets until he found his cell. "I'm gonna call Axel." Sora grunted his acknowledgement and Roxas left the room, flipping the phone open and hitting Axel's speed dial number.

After the third ring, Roxas began to contemplate whether he should hang up or leave a ridiculous message. In the midst of the fourth ring, however, Axel answered with a breathless greeting. "Hey Rox, can I call you back in uh-" He cut himself off and Roxas' eyes narrowed at the sound of shuffling and Axel grunting.

"Can I just call you back later?" Axel yelped into the phone, "I'm kinda busy."

Roxas stepped into his room. "Uh. sure. bye." If Axel had heard him, Roxas wasn't sure, the display screen flashing _'call ended'_ in bright letters. He sighed, tossing his phone onto the bed and pulling his computer chair back to slip into it, pressing a thumb against the power button as the '98 began to start up with an agonizing groan.

Elbows resting on the old desk, Roxas sat his chin into the palm of one hand, the other going to rest impatiently on the old gray mouse. His dad was too concerned with Roxas getting good grades to let the youngest blond actually get a job, and so he was stuck with Cloud's old computer from when the oldest sibling had been in school.

Granted, Struggle season wasn't until Spring, and it was hardly halfway into the Fall season, so Roxas had nothing better to do than to peruse the literature websites that he had bookmarked. One of them so happened to be a local website, dedicated to following the recent events of both The Inferno and the entire Nobody syndicate. He was quite fond of the artwork section, where he knew that Zexion often posted to, mostly with art of Tsunami. He'd been surprised to find it at first, amazed by the intricate detail and the way he seemed to make the water-wielding villain almost sexual in each piece of art.

Roxas himself frequented the literature category, having loaded it with his own stories when he wasn't busy with schoolwork or hanging out with either Axel or Hayner. The blond had been pleasantly surprised at the number of people on their coast that weren't against the implication of The Inferno being homosexual -- considering his story was based around the hero's relationship with an imaginary male character that Roxas had concocted on one of his more... creative days.

After waiting the required ten minutes that it took for his computer to finally load his instant messengers and be operateable without definite lag, Roxas opened his email, delighted to find three more comments left on the latest chapter of his story.

His delight, however, was short lived when he came to realize that two of the comments were the usual '_good, __plz__ update'_, and the last seemed to be a very detailed and violent paragraph on why The Inferno was really in love with Spark Plug, and that it would be a cold day in hell before the self-proclaimed Hero would ever turn into a 'faggot'.

Roxas cracked his knuckles, fingers twitching against the keys as the gears in his head concocted the most snide and intellectual retort that he could think of. He was halfway through the second paragraph - this one detailing all of the instances where the Inferno had favored saving a male over a female - when his door opened and Cloud's head popped in, surveying the mess of Roxas' room before landing on his little brother.

"Go make dinner. Dad's gonna be home soon."

"Hang on," Roxas muttered, gaze concentrated on his keyboard. Cloud pursed his lips. "Hang onto what?"

"Someone on the Internet is_ wrong_." Roxas hissed, his irritation growing as Cloud's presence in his room continued to exist. His fingertips tapped angrily against the keys and Cloud stepped into his room, voice the epitome of curiosity.

"Really? What did they say?" Roxas paused, glancing up at his brother and then pointing to the review that he had in a minimized window. "Some girl is bashing my story because she says that The Inf-"

"That's _amazing_. Get up and make dinner." Cloud stepped back out, shutting the door soundly, only to reopen it a second later and level Roxas with a threatening stare. "**Now**." The door slammed shut and Roxas sighed, hurriedly finishing up his response and sending it. He shut down all of his windows -- couldn't have someone coming in and reading his stuff -- and meandered out of his room to perform the ordered task.

With a little less grace and a bit more force, Roxas puttered around the kitchen in search of a big enough pan to cook the spaghetti sauce in, grumbling to himself about illiterate fools and lovesick teenage girls. Once his materials were set out, Roxas set to cooking the hamburger and putting a pot of water on the burner. He was halfway finished when he heard the sound of his phone going off from his bedroom. Placing the spatula on the counter, the blond made a beeline for his room, diving for the small black object on the phone and flipping it open without even glancing at the caller i.d.

"H'lo?" He answered, shoving himself off of the mattress and padding back out to the kitchen to finish with dinner before his father arrived home.

"Hey Roxas, sorry about earlier, I was dealing with a pissed off lady who didn't like the shoes she bought. You know how that can get." He heard a crinkling sound in the background - probably Axel popping open a bag of chips to feed his already emaciated frame. Roxas huffed into the phone, grabbing the spatula to stir the sauce around with the cooked hamburger.

"Sure I do, Axel." He grumbled, letting the redhead know that he was mildly put out at having been hung up on earlier. Axel sighed loudly into the phone, causing Roxas to flinch at the feedback from it.

"C'mon Roxas, don't be like that. I've had a rough week." Suddenly feeling sheepish, Roxas gave the spaghetti sauce a rough stir, muttering an apology into the phone, "My bad, I'm just worried about the Inferno. S'not like he's got anyone to help him."

"Well, he can take care of himself, Roxas. He's a _superhero_, after all." Roxas pulled a strainer from one of the cabinets, putting it in the sink and resting his cell against his shoulder and ear so that he could drain the spaghetti.

"Well, he's not immortal." Roxas turned the burner off, tossing the strainer into the sink and making sure everything was ready before he headed into the living room to sit on the couch. Sora was no longer in sight, having probably gone to take a nap before dinner, and Cloud was resting in the recliner, book in hand. Seeing the youngest Strife take refuge on the couch, Cloud gave him a quirked brow.

"Dinner finished?" Roxas nodded, waving at his brother to get him to be silent as Axel sighed loudly on the other end of the phone, apparently aggravated that Roxas was defending the local hero so adamantly. The redhead munched on his chips for a second before replying to Roxas' statement.

"Well... if he isn't immortal, then why does he put himself in danger?" Roxas waved a hand about, trying to reach the remote control that sat on the coffee table and giving up after a moment, his arm flopping against the side of the couch and huffing into the phone.

"I don't know, maybe he wants to?" Picking his hand up from its lounging position, Roxas carded it through his hair with aggravation, at a loss as to why the redhead was so adamant at disputing The Inferno's job occupation. More crinkling, probably Axel rolling the bag closed and stuffing it somewhere nearby for later pillaging.

"What if he has no choice?" Axel sounded aggravated, surprising the blond into pulling his hand out of his hair and resting it on his stomach.

"Hyne, Axel, don't get all defensive, its just speculation." His response was an irritated and incomprehensible murmur. Roxas scooted a bit on the couch so that he could roll on his side and stare at the blank television.

"So was work okay?" He asked softly. Cloud's phone went off and the oldest Strife looked heavenward, muttering, "_christ._" and reaching into his pocket to open it. _"Cloud." _

"Yeah, I guess. Its as okay as having a job can be."

"What do you mean you '_stole an otter_'?" Cloud hissed into his phone, smacking his book shut and standing up to go into his room again. Roxas watched him go for a minute before he responded to Axel.

"Well, as long as you're making a living, right?" He rolled off of the couch, padding into his bedroom to check and see if '_Sparkylove_' had responded to him yet. There was a banging sound in the background, followed by what Roxas could barely make out as incoherent garble, followed by Axel muttering another halfhearted curse.

"I've gotta go, pop's home. Dunno where mom is, he'll probably be pissed. Talk to you later."

"Yeah, bye." Roxas hung up, dropping his phone on his bed and plopping onto his chair. Glancing at the clock, he decided that a good hour of playing some old fashioned '_Gongaga Trail_' that Cloud had downloaded onto the old computer back during high school when he didn't particularly feel like babysitting Roxas and Sora the proper way, would be the best way to keep his mind off of things for a while.

--

Yes. Gongaga Trail.  
because we all know that you were excited when it was Oregon Trail day in Elementary/Middle school.  
I was quite fond of the Zoombinis, myself.

The original commission was 10 pages, this is 11. Urhm. I'm going to eventually write more of it when I finish the other commissions, since this isn't done and all. Reviewssssss. I've been having a terrible lieeeffff.

Moved four times this summer. I now live in Columbia, South Carolina. I lived in Florida for eleven years, man. This is such a culture shock for me.

Oh yeah. Roxas writes fanfiction. He's even got his own fictionpress account. Look up Key to Oblivion. I haven't posted it yet, but his fanfic will be on there sometime this month. (;


	2. Chapter 2

Roxas decided he no longer liked Gongaga Trail when his last chocobo was bitten by a plague-carrying Tonberry, causing the simultaneous death of his entire party.

He closed out of the game with a huff, glancing to the clock and realizing that his father had probably been home for over an hour. He leaned back in his chair, arms above his head in a stretch and shoulders popping loudly when he arched his back. Shaking himself to work out any kinks he'd gotten from hunching over the computer for the past two hours, Roxas stood up and padded out of his room.

"For the love of Hyne, Sinclaire, put the hooker back on the phone, she's more sober than you are." Roxas' face split into a grin when he saw Cloud's best friend, Zack, sitting on the couch with his legs propped on Cloud's thighs and making wild gesticulations as he spoke on his cell. Both men looked as if they'd just recently gotten back from work, their ShinRa uniforms still intact and everything. Roxas headed over to the couch to greet the SOLDIER when a black blur shot out from the kitchen and tripped him up. With a shriek, Roxas reached out madly to try and grab ahold of something as he fell backwards. His left hand clawed at the wall with his descent before the blond found himself staring at the ceiling with a pained grimace.

"Roxas?" Cloud peeked over the back of the couch, the muted television illuminating his amused expression as Roxas pushed himself into a sitting position. "You okay there, kid?" Roxas nodded, one hand clutching the back of his head. He glanced around, noticing the empty dog bed in the corner of the room and a black tail disappearing around the couch.

"Is that a cat? If that's a cat, then where's Max?" Standing, Roxas headed over to the couch to try and find the hiding feline. Cloud nodded his head towards the hallway.

"Max is in the laundry room. It's not a cat." As he spoke, Cloud gave Zack's socked big toe an angry pinch, smacking the underside of the man's foot when it wiggled affectionately on Cloud's thigh while Zack continued to talk on the phone. Roxas gave both men an odd look, opting to sit down on the loveseat nearby as Cloud flipped through the channels until settling on the TV Guide station. Roxas leaned back into the cheap leather, rolling his shoulders.

"Dad home ye- what the FUCK?" He jerked his feet up, holding his legs to his chest as what he'd previously thought was a cat skittered across the wood floor after stepping on his feet. "Is- is that an OTTER?" There was no mistaking the thick rudder of a tail and the sleek black form that was currently carrying Zack's cell phone in its mouth.

"Watch your mouth, and yes it is." Roxas turned to Cloud as Zack hung up and tossed Cloud's cell back to the blond. Cloud pocketed it into his uniform pants after a moment of fighting with Zack's feet. "What'd he say?" Zack leaned back, arms behind his head and tapping his toes together.

"Dunno, I couldn't understand what he was saying. Something about Rude, though. The hooker said we should call the humane society." Cloud pursed his lips, watching the otter take Zack's cell phone and start smacking it against the leg of the coffee table.

"I think that's for animals that weren't stolen from their homes because of a dare between two idiot ShinRa employees." Bewildered, Roxas watched the animal with a little less amusement than the two men.

"What do you mean, stolen? Does dad know?" The cell phone let out a sickening crack and the number eight rolled across the floor. The otter chirped happily, gnawing on the antenna as Roxas twisted his fingers into the fabric of his pants. "Cloud! What if it has rabies!?" Zack scoffed, wiggling his toes and earning a grimace from Cloud when he lifted his foot to poke the stoic blond in the face.

"It's from that little zoo outside of Nibel, its not gonna have rabies. Chill out, mini Spike." The dark haired man said, waving a hand at Roxas and then dropping it down near the floor to try and coax the otter over to him. The creature ignored him completely and Zack shrugged once, returning his arms back behind his head as Cloud turned the television off of mute.

"What movie do you want to watch?" Cloud asked his friend softly. Zack hummed, turning his head to scrutinize the TV Guide for a minute. "Porn?" He suggested hopefully after a moment of thought. Cloud rolled his eyes, shoving Zack's legs off of his lap as Roxas made a disgusted face and got up from the loveseat. Max was whining from the laundry room.

"I'm gonna let Max outside." He called over his shoulder, meandering to the back of the house where he could hear the retriever scratching pathetically at the door.

As soon as he opened the door, Max was running in circles with excitement. He smacked playfully at the dog's muzzle with both hands, grinning when Max wiggled his open mouth around to try and catch stray fingers. He shuffled past Max to open the back door, stumbling as the retriever shot past him and straight for the nearest vertical surface to relieve himself.

Night had already settled, and Roxas reached back into the laundry room to flick on the porch light. A few lonely stars were flickering in the sky and Roxas watched the lights of an overhead plane float through the inky blackness. He allowed his thoughts to finally wander to Axel, a frown pulling at his lips.

Axel's dad wasn't the greatest man in the world. Granted, since his mother had died, Roxas' own father had pushed himself further into his work and away from his sons, but he'd always been kind to them. Axel had grown more and more wary of Roxas coming to his house as the years had passed, until he couldn't remember the last time he'd walked into the run down mobile home with peeling wallpaper and the scent of cat litter hanging in the air.

Axel was hardly ever home anyway, but he'd always refused Roxas' offers for his friend to stay with the Strife family. Even Roxas' dad had gone as far as to extend an invitation to buy a bunk bed for Axel and Roxas to share a room, only to be politely declined by the lanky redhead.

Roxas moved to sit down on an old lawn chair that had been left on the open porch as Max ran around a squirrel infested tree. Before The Inferno had ever shown up, Roxas had thought he'd be happy just being at Axel's side. With the sudden revelation that life wouldn't always be perfect, it had given the blond a new perspective to continue strengthening his friendship with the redhead. Sure, there had been moments where the typical 'I love you, man' had been exchanged, but it had been in such a platonic fashion that Roxas would often be depressed for days afterwards.

Whistling when Max wandered too close to the neighbor's house, Roxas stood up to let the dog back inside before locking the door behind himself and flicking off the porch light. It took quite a bit of force to get the retriever to stay in the laundry room so that he wouldn't try to make a new toy out of their current visiting otter, to which Roxas ended up giving Max a warning flick on the nose to get him to behave.

The living room was dark, the only light coming from beneath Sora and his father's closed bedroom doors. Cloud was in the same position as before, though this time Zack's head was in his lap and Cloud had a hand playing idly with some stray spikes of black hair. Sounds of a fight scene were coming from the television, and Roxas walked past them to head back for his room.

He flopped onto his bed, face hitting his pillow with a grunt. His cell phone was digging into his hip, but he ignored it in lieu of releasing an obnoxiously loud groan. Granted, he knew that Cloud's job gave him a rough life, but he couldn't help but feel jealous that his brother was able to cuddle so obviously with the person he loved while Roxas was forced to lament in solitude.

Luckily for him, tomorrow was a Saturday, and he already had an arcade date lined up with Hayner, Olette and Pence. Axel would usually pop in if he was available, but it was hard to pre-plan things with the redhead when his job ordered such erratic hours.

He wrapped an arm around the pillow, moving to pull his cell phone out from under his hip and put it on his night stand. He unbuttoned the fly of his jeans, wriggling out of them as a yawn overtook him. Kicking the pants off, Roxas rolled and squirmed until he was under the covers.

At first, he tried to simply fall asleep, but his mind wouldn't keep him from every single worrying thought that could possibly be brought to his attention. Sighing, Roxas rolled out of bed to first approach his door, making sure to lock it, which wasn't a bad idea -- considering that Zack had a tendency to get lost in their house some nights and waking Roxas up when he found himself being spooned by the goofy SOLDIER.

Roxas perused his meager book shelf, pulling out an encyclopedia on comic book heroes that Axel had gotten Roxas for his fourteenth birthday and taking it to bed with him. Lying back, he cracked the large book open to a random page and began reading until sleep overtook him.

---

The following morning brought Roxas into a panicking moment of coherency when his door began to shake wildly, followed by a fist banging it with enough force that Roxas fell out of bed in an attempt to unlock the it. Clutching his comfortor just in front of his mandatory morning wood and ignoring the loud thunk of the superhero encyclopedia hitting the ground., Roxas flung open the door to to come face to face with his father's scowl.

"Roxas, how many times have I told you not to--"

"But Zack was over last night, and you KNOW he's clingy!" Roxas blurted out before his father could even finish his sentence. The man pursed his lips, raising a hand to wiggle a threatening finger in his son's face.

"You didn't do the dishes last night. I want them done before I get home from the market." He said. Ignoring the sudden twitch in his right eyelid, Roxas nodded, blinking away the blurry fatigue that plagued him on sudden wake up calls, and closed the door before his father could continue.

He tossed the quilt onto his bed and pawed around his messy room until he found a presentable set of khaki shorts, hopping around for a moment to pull them on. Ignoring his need for a shirt, Roxas slipped out of his room and down the hall, pulling open the bathroom door and slamming it shut again when he caught a glimpse of Zack in the midst of relieving himself. "Sorry!" He yelled through the wood, whirling and sneaking back to his room before anyone could spot his early morning erection that would no longer be dispelled by a quick and icy shower.

Closing his door, Roxas leaned against the cool wood, eyes falling shut as he tried to imagine as many unsexual things as possible. The first image that came to mind was when he and Axel had dared to go skinny dipping in Atlantica Lake, just outside the city.

Eyes snapping open, Roxas forced them closed again, trying instead to think of Professor Vexen in Axel's place, and somewhow coming up with the memory of walking in on Cloud and Zack. His mind and erection seemed to have different thoughts on that image, and he groaned when more blood left one head for the other one.

His cell phone ringing was enough to jar Roxas from his failure at dispelling the glaring proof of his lack of sexual activity. He headed for the vibrating device, ignoring the fleeting urge to shove it in his pants for experimentation and flipped it open. "H'lo?"

"Hey man, where are you? Is almost noon!" Hayner's indignant cry on the other end of the line had Roxas glancing to his hibernating computer. He stretched his free arm above his head, one hand moving to mess with his hair and peek across his floor in search of something suitable to wear.

"Sorry, I'll be there in an hour, I think."

"An HOUR!?" Hayner moaned over the loud sounds of the arcade. Roxas sighed into the device, snatching up one of Axel's shirts that the redhead had left and squinted at it.

"Yeah, forgot to do the dishes last night, I'll be over when I finish them. Neverland, right?" Hayner grunted an affirmitave and Roxas hung up on him to pull Axel's red tee over his head. Unlike how it fit his friend's thin body just fine, it hugged Roxas' chest and stomach like a second skin and forced a sliver of his skin to peek out between the hem of his khakis and the shirt's bottom. Roxas hiked his shorts up a bit, scowling when they fell back down on his waist.

Shrugging, he opened the door to his room, mind set on finishing up the dishes as quickly as possible and going for a half-assedly clean kitchen. Zack was lounging on the couch, flipping through Saturday morning cartoons. His normally unruly hair was pulled back into a hair band, attention more focused on the kitchen's doorway than the television.

Roxas rolled his eyes when he stepped into the kitchen to find Zack's riveting attention focused on Cloud -- who had the decency to be searching the cabinets in nothing but boxers and a faded tee -- and brushed past his brother to flick open the dishwasher and hurriedly start emptying it.

By the time he was done, the kitchen was moderately presentable for any possible guests and Roxas's fingers were pruning up. He barely gave himself enough time to scribble his location on a sticky note and slap it to his father's bedroom door before Roxas was snatching up his skateboard and gliding down the sidewalk. Roxas wasn't the most careful of boarders, considering he swerved in and out of pedestrian traffic and assaulted any nearby handrails and park benches that he crossed.

Realizing that Axel might be free of work or chores, Roxas dug out his cell phone from his pants, holding it gently in the palm of his hand until he reached a stop light. He flipped it open, thumbs darting across the keys to send a curt message to his best friend.

To: Axenator

Message:

At Arcade until 3

The crosswalk light flickered green and Roxas stuffed the open cell into his pants, allowing it to send the message without his supervision. He skated through the small cluster of people, giving himself a single kick to get over the curb ramp and back onto the sidewalk. His pants buzzed and Roxas withdrew his cell, flipping it open.

From: Axenator

Message:

lol, k. which 1?

Rozas did a double-take at the use of internet speak, and then another. It wasn't like there was many arcades around and even less that were near both Hayner's house and Roxas'. Axel should have known that. It made Roxas ponder over the question more than he probably needed to, and the blond shrugged his paranoia off with a curt shake of his head. Swerving around a set of chairs put out by a cafe, Roxas tapped back his response. He was halfway through the message when his lack of concentration had him skating right between a woman and her leashed poodle.

He stumbled, dropping his phone to the pavement with a loud crack and falling forward. His skateboard flew out from under him and his chin scraped the concrete as the dog released a strangled yelp, followed by curses from its owner. Grunting and ignoring the enraged woman, Roxas snatched up his phone, walking around the trussed up pair and grabbing his skateboard from where it had slid underneath a nearby post box. Checking his phone for damage and finding nothing but a small lens crack in the top right corner of the screen, Roxas pulled up his draft messages and hurriedly finished his reply to Axel.

To: Axenator

Message:

Which one do you think, dumbass?

Mounting his skateboard and giving the woman and her dog a short apology and a shorter wave, he continued on down the sidewalk. The arcade, luckily, wasn't far from Roxas' home, maybe a ten minute ride on his skateboard.

He was just gliding towards the entrance when his phone buzzed back at him.

From: Axenator

Message:

haha lol. my bad. sry.

Roxas scowled at the message, unable to stop the low murmur of, "What the fuck....", tucking his phone into his pocket without replying. Sometimes he worried about how rapidly Axel seemed to become infected with the stupidity of humanity. After all, it wasn't every day that Axel suddenly used 'lol', let alone twice in one conversation. If it was Hayner or Pence, Roxas wouldn't be so worried, but since Axel had more than once talked of becoming an English teacher as a back up plan if his fireman training didn't work out, Roxas felt justified in his concern. Stepping inside the Arcade with his board under his arm, Roxas strode past the DDR machine -- occupied by his classmate Zexion, who was moving frantically to some fast-paced song -- and to the counter.

"Hey Yuffie, you want to hold onto this for me?" He flashed the petite clerk his brightest smile and the Wutanese girl wibbled for a moment, stepping away from whatever she'd been doing at the register to reach over the counter and pinch his cheek.

"Anything for a cutie patootie like you~!" She cooed, taking the skateboard and setting it behind the glass counter. Roxas only grinned wider, thanking her before he turned to wander through the arcade in search of his friends. He found them easily enough once he followed the sounds of angry cursing to a racing game that Pence and Hayner were in the throes of. Roxas's smile grew as he snuck up behind the two. He motioned for Olette to keep silent and the girl covered her mouth to stifle a laugh. Roxas shifted his feet, suddenly popping his head up in between the seats with a cry of, "Hello!"

Pence shrieked, jerking his steering wheel to the side in shock and crashing his imaginary car into a very sturdy digital ice cream stand. Hayner, however, was completely unphased. The dirty blond huffed a snort of laughter at Roxas's attempt to scare the both of them and steered his car towards the finish line. Roxas rolled his eyes and turned to watch Zexion stomp away at the DDR game, crossing his arms and trying to hide his impressed look. Zexion's hair was held back out of the way with an elastic headband, his normally hidden face contorted into an intense look of concentration. Each step he took was one of precision, stamping down on the squares and lighting them up with his movements. Hayner, finished with his game, leaned over Roxas' shoulder to watch Zexion play.

"Well, now we know why he's such a skinny bastard." The blond said lightheartedly. Roxas gave a soft chuckle in agreement, turning to look at his friend and quirking an eyebrow. Hayner stared blankly back at him for a moment before recognition dawned.

"Oh! Yeah, Seifer told us to meet him at Bastion Cafe down the street around two thirty. We're gonna head over to the sandlot after that for some practice. Seif's got the equipment." Hayner explained. Roxas glanced down at his watch, guessing that they had a little over an hour to waste their time before they had to leave. He dug his hand into his back pocket, whipping out his wallet and pulling out a wad of munny.

Hayner's face lit up like a small child on Christmas morning, taking three fives and hop-skipping over to the token machine. The next hour was spent on shooting games, snowboarding games and basketball games until Roxas's wallet was considerably lighter and their arms were filled with tickets. Roxas, Pence and Olette handed their tickets over to Hayner and the two blonds approached Yuffie with twin smiles. She stared wide-eyed at the obscene number of game tickets, turning on the counting machine and slipping the first row of tickets into its mouth.

"Right. Yeah." Roxas turned when he heard Zexion speak, seeing the boy's hair back in place and a cell phone to his ear. "Tell him to stall. I'll be there soon."

Roxas quirked his eyebrow and Hayner jerked a thumb to the blue-haired boy. "Ever since he moved here, that kid's been weird." Zexion left the arcade, oblivous to the two teens conversing about him. Roxas shrugged his shoulders and Hayner turned to watch Yuffie continue to feed tickets into the counting machine. "I don't think he'd have any friends if Demyx hadn't shown up a few years ago, to be honest."

Yuffie sighed in relief as the last few tickets were counted, giving them a total of four hundred twenty eight. Hayner began pointing to everything candy-related that was in the display cases. Yuffie stared at him, turning around and heading into the back room. Roxas and Hayner looked at one another, confused. Pence sidled up next to Roxas, clapping a hand to his friend's shoulder.

"So is Hayner here buying an obscene amount of sugary goodness?" Hayner shook a fist at his friend and Roxas laughed as Yuffie returned with entire candy cases, slamming a box of airheads and bubble yum onto the counter.

"Anything else? You still have a hundred seventy credits left." Roxas watched as Haynrer contemplated his next words, eyes grazing the prize area before he shook his head.

"I'll just save those credits for another day." He said slyly, mind probably already running amok with evil sugar-induced schemes. His phone ringer went off and Hayner quickly answered it, flipping the phone open to read a new text from Seifer. He grinned, snapping it shut and nodding to Roxas.

"Lets mosey!" He and Roxas waved their goodbyes to Pence and Olette as Yuffie handed over the two boys' skateboards. They both walked out of the arcade in unison, skating down the street That was when Roxas noticed the large crowd gathered just outside Bastion Cafe.

"Foreboding crowd is foreboding." Hayner murmured sagely, just as a spurt of flame shot up in the air from inside the crowd, followed by terrified screams as people shoved their way out of the crowd. It was mass hysteria between the watching bystanders and those that chose to flee from the scene. Roxas stepped off of his skateboard, shoving his way past people and ducking around running patrons. Hayner had a hand gripped to the back of his shirt, trying not to lose track of the blond as Roxas forced his way through the crowd.

Seifer came jogging over, his bag of struggle equipment slung over a shoulder and an unhappy look on hisi scarred face. "All right kids. I'm parked behind the cafe, so lets head over there before one of us ends up on the evening news." He grabbed Hayner's free hand, tugging the blond to follow him and stopping when he realized that Hayner wasn't going to let go of Roxas and Roxas wasn't going to leave the scene.

His pale eyes were concentrated on the center of the hysteria, where the Inferno was fighting a losing battle against what seemed like half of the organization Roxas had his phone out in an instant, puling up Axel on his contact list and typing out a curt message.

To: Axenator

Message:

Inferno's in a fight. getting beat bad. im at corner of hollow n fifth, front of bastion cafe.

He sent the message, double-taking when he recognized his own voice from Axel's customized phone going off.

"Hallo. Hallo. Hallo. " Came Roxas's voice. Roxas turned his head to see a guy with short blond hair and a plethora of ear peircings on his ears pull out a cell phone and flip it open. A cell phone complete with Axel's fire red cell case and Inferno keychain. Hayner noticed it as well, because his grip went slack on Roxas's shirt as the blond turned to tell Seifer about the man with Axel's phone.

Roxas, not feeling up to waiting for Hayner's boyfriend to be the one to take action, stomped up to the pale-haired man and tried to snatch the phone. The guy pulled it away just in time, looking startled.

"What do you think you're doing with my friend's phone?" Roxas demanded, "Did you steal it from him?" This seemed to surprise the man enough that he opened and closed his mouth like gaping fish. Roxas was able to grapple for the phone this time, pocketing it without a second thought and staring the blond man down.

"I swear, if you stole more than just his cell phone, you're gonna pay." Roxas threatened, looking just about ready to add in a shaking fist for good measure when Inferno's muffled scream of pain caught his attention. Inferno was on the ground with Temptest's spear sticking into his right calf, his suit torn and bloodied. Roxas surveyed the scene with frantic eyes. Temptest, Freeshooter and another man that he didn't recognize were all surrounding Inferno. The man that Roxas hadn't seen before held out a hand to grab the spear, his hand producing ice around the entire handle. The ice shot down the length of the spear until it began to wrap around Inferno's leg and crawl up his body. Roxas's eyes went wide and he whirled around, searching frantically before his eyes landed on Seifer's bag of struggle gear. He jogged through the frantic crowd, reaching Seifer in record time.

"I need your gear," he said. Seifer opened his mouth to protest but Roxas had already pulled the bag from his shoulder and was rifling through it. He grabbed a defense-oriented bat from inside the bag, wrenching it out and turning on his heel to run back to where Inferno's entire lower half was now covered in ice. The red-clad hero was writhing in pain, his fingers scrambling frantically to try and break the frozen prison that was slowly covering his body. Roxas shoved his way through the crowd, nearly pushing Zexion over in his attempts to get to the fight. When his shoulder crashed into Zexion's, Freeshooter seemed to flicker for a moment before the man reappeared. Roxas froze, turning to look at the black-clad teenager. Zexion's face was contorted into a very unhappy scowl.

Roxas's hand shot out and shoved Zexion, sending him crashing into someone else that was running past. Freeshooter disappeared for a few more seconds and then came back. Roxas snarled, "You're one of them!" and rose a fist as if ready to punch Zexion in the face when Tsunami came running over, holding his hands out to try and pacify Roxas's rage. However, Roxas caught sight of Inferno with ice up to his chest and whirled around.

"I don't have time for this." He snapped, jumping when Zexion's thin fingered hand wrapped around his arm to stop him. Roxas shoved Zexion off, running out to Inferno with his struggle bat wielded.

Roxas never saw a man with an 'x' shaped scar on his face grab Zexion by the hair and bark orders to Tsunami, nor did he hear the threats on Zexion's life if Tsunami didn't comply. All he knew was that one minute he was raising his struggle bat to swing at the guy covering Inferno in ice, and the next his head was covered in a large bubble of water. Roxas gasped and choked, liquid filling his lungs as he coughed into the bubble. His struggle bat slipped from his grasp, clattering to the ground as water burned his eyes, nose and throat.

"No!" Inferno roared, his flames flickering again before dying out as the ice melted and covered him in more water. He couldn't seem to get a spark of anything. Roxas squinted through the water, his gaze wavering. He choked, dropping to his knees. The water bubble fell to the ground in a splash and Demyx's voice roared, "Roxas, stop!" from somewhere in the crowd. Roxas heaved, coughing up water and spitting it out before he weakly grabbed for the struggle bat, which was now covered in water and considerably heavier, given that the foam seemed to be absorbent.

He lunged for the guy icing Inferno, swinging his struggle bat at the man's head. The man turned, reflexively raising his hands and icing over the object coming at him, going pale a half second before the giant struggle bat-turned-ice club bashed into his head and knocked him clean out.

This seemed to rally the rest of the bystanders as Seifer and Hayner came running over, struggle bats at ready as they lunged for Tempest. Tempest knocked them back with a blast of air, looking startled that anyone but Inferno had dared to stand up to him. Roxas, knowing his friends would be able to hold their own in a fight, hurried over to Inferno and using the club to break away the ice that surrounded the man.

"Are you okay?" Roxas gasped out, still out of breath from his encounter with Tsunami's water bubble. Inferno grabbed Roxas by the front of the shirt, pulling him into a tight hug that had the rest of Roxas's breath rushing out of him. Roxas went completely still, his eyes wide.

Inferno pulled back, flashing Roxas a thumbs up. "Thanks, kid." He said, voice muffled by the pseudo motorcycle helmet on his head. "I needed a little warming up." Having said that, Inferno stood, shaking some excess water and ice off of his arms and shoulders and summoning a ball of fire. He turned to face the remaining organization members, only to freeze when he realized that they'd disappeared.

"Well..." Inferno began, only to have his voice overpowered by sirens. "Shit." The man cursed, looking around in a panic to try and find a way out.

"Follow me!" Roxas blurted out, grabbing the man's gloved hand and dragging him along. Seifer and Hayner, both with mild injuries, came jogging over to follow Roxas. Seifer grabbed the bag of struggle gear from where it had been discarded and they headed for the small alley behind Bastion Cafe.

"You're gonna have to take off your disguise. We've got some spare clothes with our struggle gear that you can change into." Roxas panted as they ducked behind a dumpster. Inferno went rigid, shaking his helmeted head fervently.

"No, see, I can't d-"

"Look, the cops are everywhere and even civilians are looking for you, do you want to get out of here or not?" Roxas interrupted, reaching out to take off the helmet and having his hands batted away by the red-clad man. Roxas stared at him in disbelief and a hushed 'ooooh' came from Hayner and Seifer, who were huddled behind some trashcans on the other side of the alleyway.

"I didn't just risk my life to save you only to have you slap my hand away when I'm trying to help." Roxas hissed. He was sure the Inferno blanched at that, given the way his shoulders rose and he drew his hands back closer to his body in a defensive manner.

"Look kid,-- "

"I'm seventeen, I'm not a kid." Roxas snapped, his irritation rising as the sirens grew louder. Seifer was pulling out some of his spare clothes from the gear bag, a blue shirt and black slacks, and glanced out into the street before balling them up and tossing them over to Roxas and Inferno.

Inferno scooted closer to the side of the dumpster, his pristine red suit turning a dull red from all the dust and dirt.

"Look, Rox- kid- look buddy." Inferno started, reaching out to take the spare clothes offered. "I really appreciate your help, but I work al--"

Roxas grabbed Inferno's helmet and wrenched it off his head, eyes going wide and heart freezing in his chest.

"AXEL?"

* * *

UNBETA'D

ILUGUYS. I'M WRITING KINGDOM HEARTS JUST FOR YOUUUUU


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